Men's Basketball: Nevada hosts Boise State Saturday

Not all Boise State-Nevada games are created equal.

 When the sport was football just 78 days ago, a crowd of 32,642 sat in the rain and cold in Boise to watch as a Western Athletic Conference championship, a Bowl Championship Series game and the civic pride of northern Nevada and western Idaho were all on the line.

 When the Nevada Wolf Pack and Boise State Broncos clash in men's basketball on Saturday night (7:05 p.m.) at Lawlor Events Center, well, let's just say the stakes, the crowd and the intensity won't be as high.

 That doesn't mean, however, that the game lacks importance. It's just that both the Wolf Pack and Broncos will have entirely different goals in mind.

 The Wolf Pack, 14-9 overall and 6-4 in the WAC, would clinch a spot in the WAC tournament by beating Boise (11-13, 2-9). The Pack also has its eye on a WAC regular season title. They sit just two games behind leader Utah State (19-6, 9-2) on the loss side going into Saturday's schedule with six games to play.

 Boise State? Well, the Broncos are fighting for their WAC lives. They are in a three-team battle with Idaho (11-12, 3-8) and Hawaii (9-14, 2-8) to see which one of them is the only team in the conference to be left out of the eight-team WAC tournament next month at Lawlor Events Center.

 Boise State, which will finish under .500 in WAC play for the first time since the 2005-06 season, has lost nine of its last 11 games, including an 88-82 decision to the Wolf Pack (in front of just 2,833 fans) at their own Taco Bell Arena on Jan. 20.

 Pack coach David Carter, though, doesn't like to look at the standings when preparing his team for an opponent who is struggling.

 "You can't look at their record and think it's going to be an easy game for us," Carter said.

 That was certainly true for Utah State on Thursday. The Aggies, who have beaten the Pack twice this year, barely survived the Broncos, 72-67. Boise fought back within two points of Utah State twice in the final 20 seconds.

 The Broncos, who beat the Pack twice two years ago and in the quarterfinal round of the WAC tournament at Lawlor in 2005, also gave the Pack all it could handle last month. It took a 29-point effort from Luke Babbitt and 21 points from Brandon Fields for the Pack to avoid the upset.

 Boise also is certainly not without talent. The Broncos feature the 6-foot-9 Ike Okoye, one of the better all-around players in the WAC. Okoye is 14th in the WAC in scoring (12.8 points), sixth in rebounding (8.5), 13th in field goal percentage (.520) and fourth in blocks (1.6).

 "He reminds me of (the Pack's Dario Hunt)," Carter said. "He's very active on the boards."

 The Broncos also have six other players that are averaging at least 7.9 points a game: La'Shard Anderson (11.0), Robert Arnold (10.7), Daequon Montreal (9.8), Paul Noonan (8.1), Kurt Cunningham (8.0), Anthony Thomas (7.9),

 The 6-1 Anderson is eighth in the WAC with 3.8 assists per game and tied for first with Fresno's Paul George with 2.5 steals a game. The 6-foot Thomas, who is averaging 10.2 points a game in WAC play, can also handle the ball (3.3 assists, 1,7 steals). Montreal, who was inserted into the starting lineup seven games ago, is averaging 13.7 points in WAC games. Cunningham, (.588 % field goal percentage) is a force inside off the bench and Noonan is dangerous from 3-point range (1.8 a game).

 Boise, though, struggles on defense. Bronco opponents have converted .453 % of their shots (the best against any WAC team) this year. Opponents are also shooting .471 % from 3-point range against Boise.

 Carter said earlier this year that it is not difficult to get an open look against the Broncos.

 "You can get any shot you want," Carter said.

 The Wolf Pack have struggled lately to remain above .500 in league play. They needed a three-point play by Armon Johnson with 2.9 seconds to play to beat Idaho, 67-66, on Wednesday night. Johnson (13) and Babbitt (12) scored all 25 Pack points in the second half against Idaho.

 Idaho coach Don Verlin also let everyone know that he thought the Pack got a little help. Verlin said Babbitt traveled before finding Johnson for a 3-pointer that tied the game at 64-64 and that Johnson's last bucket should not have counted.

 Verlin, who was reprimanded by WAC commissioner Karl Benson for his comments, told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and a radio audience after Wednesday's game that, "I thought we got some really bad officiating. I'm going to be honest, I'm going to call the WAC office. I thought it was a poorly officiated game tonight.

 "I don't care if the WAC fines me or not. (Luke) Babbitt traveled out in front, and then an and-one called from about 19 feet out (on Johnson's game-winning play). The WAC office will hear from me.

 "I thought it (officiating) was really inconsistent all night long. Marv (Jefferson) gets a charge called, then the (Babbitt) travel that was blatant right in front of the court. It was Luke Babbitt, and it was at a crucial time because Armon Johnson hits a 3."